redefining mobility on big screen android devices

Month: November 2015

So photography is going mobile, and what’s your weapon of choice? We all know that the mobile phone’s camera is just too small to support quality imaging in low light, so what’s your plan? Since Christmas is round the corner would you want a DSLR, or would you consider something simpler, like maybe a lens camera? The Lens Camera, a camera system pioneered by Sony with its QX series didn’t quite shine as brightly as people thought. But the concept was a hit and there are so many pretenders from China emulating the lens camera that sells for as little as 100 bucks online. However if you want the real deal here are three to consider.

DxO One

DXO One Taking a cue from the Olympus Air, the DxO One is the lens camera that is built especially for the iPhone as it uses a dedicated lightning connector to bridge its control and imaging capabilities. The cost of DxO One cost in the ballpark of US$600. Sensor size is as small as the Nikon System 1, probably smaller is good but not the sensor. With 20 megapixels at your disposal, the iPhone 6s won’t be a competitor. DxO captures both RAW and JPGs so it will be a useful fit. Unfortunately it does not support 4K video capture.

Aside from this, connectivity is only through the lighting port for iPhones only. Sounds like a dumb idea but hey, Android devices are already hitting the 16-20 megapixel output mark and the only brand that needs a camera upgrade comes from Apple.

Olympus Air Lens Camera

Retailing in the ball park of about US$400 with a 14-42 kit lens, this baby is really a m4/3 camera that takes in any m4/3 lens. That means the sensor size of this baby is 16 megapixels but with a much larger sensor than that found on the DxO.

By now, you’d realize that there is a heck of a lot of great lenses on the Olympus Air since it shares the same mount as the ones used by its mirrorless cousins. You have a wide choice of lens, including pancake type fixed lenses so there is no mistaking the quality you’d be getting from it.

The m4/3 platform has a lot of supporters, including lens mounts to use Leica lenses. So if you have an M mount lense, just get an adaptor for the m4/3 and you’re ready to go.

The downside is that video capture is restricted to 1080p so it’s no big deal here. Works for both iOS and Android.

Sony ILCE-QX1L

Sony was the pioneer but sine the Q1, they have asserted that what you need is really an E-mount camera lens that will take in all of Sony’s NEX camera lenses. Sensor size is APS-C, so this is one big baby with 1080p video capture. The lenses are not as compact of small as m4/3 but big sensors need big lenses. Again, you can buy lens mount adaptors to fit Leica M lenses if you so desire so this won’t pose a huge problem should you want a jump in imaging quality. This QX1 cost in the ballpark of US$550.

Photography is Mobile

In the age of the budget airline, you are encouraged to travel light. Gone are the days where you pack a whole bag of lenses along with the DSLR with a tripod in tow. Having a modular lens camera is really the way forward as you only need a small bag to contain three lenses along with a Gorrilapod tripod for those low light moments.

Image quality is subjective as it really depends on you, the user. If you are happy with the quality after checking out those images posted up on Flickr, then you’d be quite satisfied with the money you are parting with.

Video capture is still stuck in the 1080p era but that’s not a bad thing is it? Those wanting 4K output would be better off shooting with the Galaxy S6 stock camera…instead of a lens camera.

The lens camera is centered around still photography and for those looking for something affordable without compromising their E mount, M mount or m4/3 mounted lenses, your choices are all here.

The Lens Camera habitually co-exist with your mobile device, without it, photography would be meaningless as you can’t perform image compositions. This is probably one gadget that will grow in years to come as people ditch their hefty DSLRs for something smaller to carry about.

Digital imaging and digital photography will in time get even cheaper and those with their foot in the door with a Lens Camera will be ahead of those without a similar product.

Apple’s iPhone may have fallen off a cliff recently with their new iPhone 6S camera but to add insult to injury, it still hasn’t figured out if DNG file support is warranted even though Snapseed is already supporting it natively on Android.

Now let’s not blame Tim Cook for this oversight, after all, the iPhone isn’t a serious mobile camera to begin with as it is used for casual shooters and will continue to appeal to casual shooters. Neither is he to blame for the fall from grace from the DxO lab ratings for the iPhone 6S as doing so, would mean you’re accusing him of first degree murder for running over a cat.

The iPhone, like the cat, will spring up once again thanks to its many lives so don’t go pronouncing its doom as yet. Sure it’s got a measly 12 magepixels but hey, the once mighty Nikon D700 also had a 12 megapixel sensor so don’t knock it.

So I digress, let’s get back to Snapseed support for DNG files. Yes, it is finally here but no, it’s not as easy as you think.

Snapseed Caveats Explained

Snapseed is awesome. When Nik Software first released it, Mac and iOS users paid good money to get its tools on the desktop as well as on mobile. Google then bought it out. Apple users around the world cursed Tim Cook on why he didn’t see that opportunity first, well you can’t blame him. He was focused on getting profits and not on making users happy. Can you blame him?

After it was acquired, Google made some changes, including releasing it for free as an app for mobile and killing the Mac desktop version.

When Google announced that it was going to support DNG file formats, everyone went WTF?

DNG files are massive. They can easily be 20mb a piece or more.

Now for casual photographers who shoot selfies and post to Instagram and Facebook, there is nothing to worry about since there is no need for DNG as part of your digital imaging workflow.

DNG was a file format invented by Adobe that has gone open to allow some form of portability of RAW format image files to exist indefinitely. One of the problems of native RAW files taken from cameras is that it is proprietary. Once support for that particular format goes defunct, there is no way to open that file in eternity. So Adobe figured that if you convert the native RAW format to a DNG Raw format, with all the data intact, you could allow that file to exist forever.

To date, very few mobile devices shoot with DNG in mind. Android has one paid app, Camera FV-5, which allows you to shoot and save in DNG format. The Leica M9 shoots in DNG too but not a whole lot of other cameras do. One reason is that converting native Raw files to DNG takes some heavy lifting on DSLRs and it is ill advised.

So getting back to the Mobile camera of choice, why would you want to shoot in DNG?

For one, DNG format these days are as good as having a second back up camera to your DSLR if you’re a pro. The merits of having a good RAW file should your DSLR suddenly found its way into a Craiglist advertisement as a stolen artifact is a good reason to have a backup camera as a sound investment.

Think about it, if you had a backup photo residing on your mobile device capture with a 16 megapixel sensor, it could save your day. Unfortunately, there are some caveats to using RAW editing on Snapseed which has yet to be sorted out.

DNG will not load from Gallery App

If you had DNG files stored on your phone, the only way to retrieve it is through a file manager. For Galaxy Note users, please do not rely on My Files app that comes with your mobile device won’t recognize DNG as well. What you need is a third party File Manager from the Playstore such as File Manager HD, which is free to use.

With the file manager, you go to your desired folder with the DNG files and get that to open in Snapseed.

You can also use this method to open files in the cloud to Snapseed. For example if you had a folder on Dropbox where you store all your DNG files, you can the mobile app for Dropbox to open the file in Snapseed.

DNG is still not a recognized format for External Cameras

Besides the Leica M9, and probably a few of the other Leica cameras that has since arrived in stores, you need to be able to convert those native RAW files from Olympus, Nikon and Canon all on your own and store them in a place where you can reach them. Cloud storage is probably the best way to do this but I hate to think what would happen to your mobile broadband bandwidth once you start pulling down 40mb files from the cloud to edit on your Android device.

For me, I have a dedicated folder in the cloud where I processed these native RAW files into DNG format. This means that should a client suddenly need a file and want to pay for it, you could of course download it, process it the way they want and send the file to them.

DNG isn’t perfect, at least for now but it sure gets the work done. For the rest of you who are already shooting DNG on mobile, Snapseed is a god sent.